I’ll never forget the first time teenage-me booted up System Shock 2 in ’99. In an era where first-person shooters had only just begun having actual stories, Ken Levine’s gripping space trip was indeed a shock to my system. How could it not be when he woke me up from a cryosleep into the belly of a derelict spaceship, surrounded by half‑mad mutants and rogue robots?
You should be thrilled to hear that the Von Braun has been hyperjumped back into relevance by NightDive Studio, a crew of utter re-maestros. And no, it’s not just a coat of polish slapped on an ancient engine; this is a full rebuild in their KEX Engine, complete with crisp cinematics, modern lighting effects, and yes, visible hands gripping your weapons instead of phantom hands poking through the void.
System Shock 2 wasn’t just another sci‑fi shooter; it’s basically a proto-BioShock. Go in expecting a Frankenstein’s‑monster amalgam of FPS thrills and RPG depth. Its branch‑and‑bash skill trees, hacking minigames, and audio‑log storytelling were lightyears ahead of their time. What’s here is basically a proto-BioShock (despite it defying the established rules of there always being a lighthouse, always a man, and always a city).
Furthermore, you should know that Nightdive’s earlier System Shock 1 remake showed they have the chops to handle classic code with care. This time, they’ve ripped out the wiring, reverse‑engineered the original C code, and stitched in modern functionality. The result is a remaster that feels freshly born, yet still authentically haunted.
I should probably get you up to speed on the plot first. The year is 2114, and you wake up from cryo on the colony ship Von Braun with your memory as blank as a fresh console save file. What’s happened? Why’s the deck slick with strawberry jam, and why are the corridors echoing with panicked screams? Soon you learn SHODAN (the rogue AI with a god complex) has run amok, toying with both man and machine. Your mission: survive the insanity, gather the crew’s scattered audiologs, and shut down this wannabe SKYNET’s grand scheme before the resident freaks or lethal security systems end you.
Those audio‑logs are more than set dressing. They recount the slow, grotesque collapse of the Von Braun’s community and remain as central to the experience as hacking terminals or slotting new bullets into your pistol. In this remaster, they crackle through the speakers with renewed clarity, each whisper more unsettling than the last. I’m happy to say I got hooked on their timeless horror all over again.
Controls were one of the biggest hurdles for console ports of System Shock 2. Thankfully, Nightdive has retained the original mouse‑and‑keyboard interface for purists, but they’ve also layered in a slick quickbar system for controllers, DualSense haptic feedback, and a streamlined radial menu that actually works (no more jabbing at tiny icons in panic).
Combat feels better than I remember but is still very much of its time. Clobbering things with a wrench is your thrashy go-to for much of the first act. You’ll then progress into low ammo / low physics shooting with guns of lasers, or hacking things with some baked in fiddliness. The developers deliberately left some of the clunk to retain a bit of tension in the action. Ad, speaking of, cross‑play co‑op is here too, but having a mate all but ruins the survival-horror fear factor. Would not recommend.
Visually, the remaster feels like switching from VHS to Blu‑ray. Corridors that once blurred into a gooey wash now gleam with eerie reflections and stark, clinical lighting. Creature models sport new textures that preserve their grotesque anatomy, though these new visages simply couldn’t hope to be anywhere near as unnerving or threatening as they were back in the day.
Sound design is what really gets a 21st‑century makeover. The creaking hull moans, distant alarms shriek, and the dank squish of mutant flesh hitting the deck is just as stomach‑churning as I remember. The new cut‑scene intros and outros are respectable recreations that didn’t yank me out of immersion too much.
At its core, System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster still feels like a tightrope walk worth taking between survival horror and sci‑fi RPG. Nightdive has done yet another stellar job modernising what needed modernising while respecting the original’s rough edges. Sure, the remaster can’t bottle the pure, unfiltered dread of one’s first pre-9/11 playthrough, but it does ensure the Von Braun’s nightmare lives on for a new generation.
Whether you’re a crusty old veteran itching to relive the audio‑log chills or a curious newcomer ready to experience what begat BioShock, this remaster is still very much worth docking with. Just be sure to equip your rose-tinted edgy hacker goggles first.
